VOLUME II: Amos, the Asian Salesman

ISSUE V:

Approach

In our last article, we were discussing about the third sales process, Pre-Approach. In doing so, we managed to help Amos, the Asian Salesman, to change his knowledge, attitude, skills and accountability, in order for him perform optimally when doing Pre-Approach. Those changes were fundamental in increasing his sales capabilities. He would then be a step closer in reaching his quota, eventually making his boss happy. We will now look into the next sales process called Making Approach & see how we can help Amos improve himself.

When you make an approach, you need to first have the knowledge and confidence when approaching the prospect. This would include setting the appointment. The most crucial areas to take note in making approaches would be soft skills such as posture, tone and body language, as well as, hard skills like handling objects, having and following a script. Strong approaches would be able to boost the chances of closing sales. Amos had previously used direct approaches before. He used his existing relationships for personal engagement to secure sales appointments. Those days are long gone. As we have discussed before in previous articles, he now has to go for the larger pool of audiences. Therefore, his generated leads would be strangers whom he has no previous relationship with. He needs to be able to focus on large numbers of new leads but high close-rate for securing meetings or appointments. In order for him to do that, we will need to see how Amos can change his knowledge, attitude, skills and accountability to bridge the gap between his current profile and the expectations of the company.

Firstly, Amos needs to know how to build instant rapport such as internalising of scripts and consistently practicing it, thus being able to professionalize his approach to be more effective. This is important if he needs to meet new people whom he has no prior relationship with. So, he has to be able to go in and connect with his prospects right away in the shortest possible time. With that foundation being laid down, he then has to build up his comprehension of how people view his product or service, which includes the prospects’ needs and wants. This relates to the UPB, Unique Perceived Benefits from his prospects’ point of view which are essentially, strong value propositions known as ‘memory hooks’ to catch attention. However, before he could catch his prospects’ attention with the UPB, he would probably need to mention his products USP, Unique Selling Proposition, first. Only then will the prospect recognize the products’ FAB- features, advantages, benefits.

Once he has those knowledge in mind, he would also need to hone his ability to handle a large number of no’s while keeping to the goals set for him. He will face many rejections from people. Therefore, he must be able to continue with a positive mind-set, push through and not give up. His willingness to proceed with limited information and meet any different people throughout the day should not wither either. Resilient is the key throughout this whole process as the bottom line would be to secure as many appointments as possible.

Amos would also need to have confidence in every approach. The first impression counts. If he does not have the skill to be confident in his delivery, his prospects can sense it and the chances of getting an appointment from them would decrease. Your prospects would want to work with confident people as it would translate to a better product or service image. Also, he has to remind himself to continue the energy even after a long day. He has to be highly efficient while using an effective sales approach. He has to remember that doing the right thing, is being productive but doing the right thing right, is being efficient. If he makes a hundred calls, he is doing this right as he is targeting a larger pool. That would just mean he is being productive but might not garner him a lot of appointments. Now, if he goes further by having a good script and being professional, he would be doing the right thing right. This time, he would be able to garner even more appointments than before.

To be accountable, he needs to know where boundaries are when speaking to prospects. Knowing when to stop talking and building relationship is important as he has to concentrate on the numbers. Too much time spent will affect his performance. Also, having to work in tight nit teams, would help to motivate him even more. He needs to be accountable to a group especially when making approach as there will be too much of rejections and disappointments. The group could help him maintain the level of motivation.

After looking through what he needs to do at the Making Approach stage, we have managed to bridge the gap between the actual performance and the desired outcome. He has now taken a step further in achieving his dreams to become a successful salesperson. In next week’s issue, we will be taking a break and talk about the launch of our improved product called QuickDesk, the Best Sales Focused CRM in Asia. Stay tuned!

*The key principle is that anyone can sell, depending on where the strength lies at and how to leverage them with the surrounding opportunities unique to the sales person to achieve the desired sales outcomes! Find out more on how you can leverage your sales via https://pearcomms.com/